VERY interesting thread
. Personally, I think it's great that she called herself "African-American," because it challenges us to think outside the "boxes" and categories that we force people into.
A few other categories to think about
:
What about Black people from Latin American countries? Most people want to look at them and automatically label them "African-American," but if you ask them, they are 100% Latino.
Or what about White people from Latin American countries or Latin American descent? Cameron Diaz, as blonde-haired and blue eyed as it gets, is of Cuban descent (1/2 Cuban on her father's side). But is she just "white"? There are plenty of people out there who look like her and are 100% Latina, but would we consider them "white" or Latina?
What about Spanish people--meaning people from SPAIN? Are they Hispanic, or European-American/White? They look "White", they are from Europe, but they speak Spanish. Are they a different "race" than Italian people just because they speak a different language?
And one category that has had me perplexed for a long time--ASIAN. When we describe someone as Asian or Asian American, we usually mean Chinese, Japenese, Korean, etc. descent, right? Do we include Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani people in that category? And what about RUSSIAN people? A HUGE part of Russia is in Asia. If you are Russian, from the Asian part, now living in America, does that make you Asian-American?